


Forever, We'll Remain as a Memory

by MonacaTogami



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Falling In Love, Hetalia Countries Using Human Names, Multi, Nordics, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Strangers to Lovers, enemies to lovers (sort of)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26949361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonacaTogami/pseuds/MonacaTogami
Summary: Ukraine convinced (forced) Belarus to meet the Nordics. Belarus has to spend two days at each of their places. She expects it to be boring, but she ends up meeting and spending time with Iceland, and feels something she's never felt before - true love.
Relationships: Belarus & Ukraine (Hetalia), Belarus/Iceland (Hetalia), Canada/Norway (Hetalia), Denmark & Finland & Iceland & Norway & Sweden (Hetalia), Denmark/Netherlands (Hetalia), Finland/Sweden (Hetalia), Germany/Ukraine (Hetalia)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8





	1. Meet the Nordics

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on ff.net, but I don't really post on there anymore, so I decided to move it here so I don't forget about it.

The sun peered in through the windows as an alarm began to sound. In a ball on the bed was Natalya, more commonly known as the personification of Belarus. Reaching her hand out from the fortress of blankets and pillows that she had built around herself, she turned the alarm off, groggily rolling over. She popped her head out of her cozy mountain and opened her eyes slowly. The violet orbs that adorned the woman contracted at the harsh sunlight, as the eyelids desperately tried to snap shut. The pale female fought back and kept them open, resulting in a squint. 

The cool air flew into the now open cocoon, making Natalya shiver slightly. She took a deep breathe, realizing that she was going to need to leave her bed. Today was the first day of the week that she was going to be meeting up with the Nordics, not by her request, but by the suggestion of her older sister, Irunya. Irunya had noticed that her youngest sibling was not very social, given that her entire social tendencies consisted of begging Ivan to marry her, or pranking Tolys and the other Baltics. The Ukrainian woman decided it would be best for Natalya to work on better relations with other countries, and what better place to start than the loveable Nordic Five that Estonia always spoke so fondly of. 

Natalya slowly but surely inched out of the covers until she felt her feet hit the cold floor. She flinched slightly at the sudden coolness, and slipped into her slippers as to warm her iced feet. She stood up slowly, stretching her arms and yawning. The Belarusian reached the kitchen and turned on the Keurig. A k-cup was placed in the machine, and a coffee mug was placed under it. When the red light turned off, signaling that it was done heating, Natalya pressed the middle button, and watching intently as the hot liquid dispensed into her mug. She took the mug off of the tray, and with a sip, she was awake enough to begin getting ready for the day—and week—ahead of her. 

* * *

After a while, Natalya was dressed and ready, her suitcase next to her as she waited for Irunya to arrive so that they could get to the airport. The Belarusian was clothed with a pair of light blue skinny jeans, a black t-shirt, and a purple bubble jacket with a black fur-lined hood. When she heard a knock at the door, she stood up and answered it, only to reveal a light blonde Ukrainian woman on the other side. Irunya was wearing a similar outfit to Natalya’s, the only difference being that she was wearing a peacoat of a light blue, as opposed to Natalya’s purple bubble one. 

“Здрастуйте, Nat! Are you ready to go?” the cheerful lady asked, her bright blue eyes closed in a smile. Natalya gave her a simple nod, a bit annoyed with her sister’s overly cheerful attitude. She walked back over to her suitcase, pressing the button on the handle to lift it up, and rolled back over to Irunya. “Let’s go,” she said, looking up at the woman who was significantly taller than her, being that Natalya was a mere five-foot-three, and Irunya was about five-foot-nine. 

“Ooh, I’m so excited!” Irunya exclaimed, grabbing Natalya’s arm and pulling her out of the door and into the cold air outside. A few snowflakes fell and landed on Natalya’s blonde head, causing her harsh appearance to involuntarily soften. She made sure to keep her grip on her suitcase, it rolling out behind her. She grunted a bit at Irunya’s statement. 

“You’re always excited,” she deadpanned, not even a trace of sarcasm being found in her cold voice—although this wasn’t unusual. Irunya seemed to just blissfully ignore her younger, angrier sibling, and continued to drag her to her white Toyota RAV4. 

When the two reached the car, Natalya ripped her arm away from Irunya’s grasp, watching as the other went to open the boot of the vehicle. The Ukrainian held her hand out, and Natalya handed Irunya her suitcase, then heading to the passenger side and hopping inside. Irunya placed Natalya’s suitcase gently in the boot and then closed it, before hopping into the driver’s seat and digging her keys out of her pocket. She fumbled with them for a bit, but soon located the correct key and stuck it into the ignition. And soon, they were off to the airport. 

* * *

The flight was long and boring, at least to Natalya. She had tried to sleep, but found that she could not; some sort of feeling in her stomach, causing her to not be able to. Maybe annoyance. Maybe anger or nervousness, perhaps. But no matter what it was, it was a nuisance to the Belarusian. 

When Natalya stepped out of the Copenhagen airport, she was greeted by the sunshine—something that her pale skin said she had not seen in a while. The air was still cold; the trees still dead and brown; a light layer of snow still on the ground; but something about this place was happier, brighter, and caused the sun to shine proudly even in the darkness of winter. And that ‘thing’ was something that Natalya’s place didn’t possess. It was a little overwhelming to her, to say the least. 

She walked slowly, her suitcase rolling steadily behind her, and Irunya rambling about who-knows-what up ahead. They weaved through people of all sorts, most of which were talking in a language that Natalya assumed was Danish. Not that she really cared what language they were speaking, she couldn’t understand any of it anyway. Natalya was snapped out of her trance when Irunya’s back met her face, and she was about to say something, when her eyes landed on a group of five that were ahead of her. 

“Natalya, these are the Nordics!” Irunya exclaimed, loud enough to make Natalya cringe slightly. The Ukrainian had wrapped her arm around Natalya’s shoulders, the blonde Belarusian grumbling at the action. Her violet eyes followed Irunya’s hand toward one of the five men. 

The man was rather tall, his spiked blonde hair likely adding to his height. His eyes were a shade of blue that almost reminded Natalya of the lakes Alfred (also known as the United States of America) had shown her when she had visited him once. On the man’s face was a large, lopsided smile—it was bright, just like everything that surrounded her. He wore a black trench coat with red cuffs on the sleeves, as well as black pants and brown boots.

“This is Matthias Køhler, he represents Denmark!” Irunya exclaimed, causing the man (who was apparently Denmark) to take a step forward and place a hand on his hip. 

“Nice to meet you! Enjoying the splenderific radness of my place, right?” Matthias’ enthusiasm and excessive use of weird adjectives to describe himself reminded Natalya of Prussia, in the worst way possible. And if he was anything like Prussia, he was going to be exhausting. 

“Something like that,” she muttered, a harsh glare greeting the smile Matthias held and causing it to falter a bit. 

“Right then, this is Berwald Oxenstierna! He’s Sweden!” Irunya chimed in. Her hand trailed next to Matthias, Natalya’s eyes following suit. Standing to the side of the Dane was a taller, paler man, with light blonde hair that was similar to the colour of Natlya’s own laying on his head—quite a contrast from the gravity-defying locks of the previous man. His eyes were ice-cold; a pastel, almost turquoise blue; a pair of silver rimmed glasses pushed up on his nose. His dark blue coat and outfit added to his intimidating look, not to mention the expression he held on his face that sent a shiver down Natalya’s spine. “Hej,” was all he said. Natalya simply stared at him, trying her best to not let him intimidate her. 

Irunya next moved to a much smaller man—although still taller than Natalya—who was holding onto Berwald’s arm. He had blonde hair (a trait that seemed to be common amongst the Nordics), violet eyes, and he wore a soft smile that reminded her of Alfred’s brother, what was his name? It didn’t matter. He was wearing a blue coat, khaki pants, and brown shoes. “And this is Tino Väinämöinen, who represents Finland!” Irunya explained. 

“Hei, Miss Belarus! We’ve heard a lot about you!” Tino said, in a voice just as cheerful as Irunya’s. “We’re so glad you’ve decided to stay with us!”

Natalya crossed her arms and looked him right in the eyes. “It wasn’t like I had much of a choice,” she deadpanned, earning an elbow to the ribs from Irunya. “Hey!” the Belarusian exclaimed, shooting an aggravated stare to the face of the blonde woman who had started to chuckle. Natalya huffed, looking back toward Tino, who seemed to be trying his hardest not to laugh. Irunya composed herself, and with a smile, pointed out the next of the bunch. “Next up is Lukas Bondevik, the personification of Norway!”

The man in question seemed to be even less amused by the situation than Natalya was, a frown on his face as his deep, indigo eyes moved to focus on Natalya’s own. His platinum-blonde hair covered one eye as it fell from his face, and he brushed it back with his finger. “Hei der,” Lukas said, not an ounce of emotion in his voice. Natalya had no clue what he had said, but assumed it was something along the lines of ‘hello’, and so she responded with a “Hey.” 

His blue and white striped shirt, khaki pants, and lack of a coat made her assume that he was probably the most cold-tolerant of the bunch, considering that even she was wearing a coat, and her country usually got down to around negative eight degrees celsius in the winter. Of course, he could have also simply forgotten a coat, as that would explain the fact that—as Natalya just noticed—he was shivering.

“Lastly, this is Emil Bondevik, Lukas’ little brother, who represents Iceland!” Natalya’s eyes trailed to the last of the five, who seemed to be lost in his own world, and didn’t even look up when Irunya pointed him out. His violet eyes were laser-focused on his cellphone, and he had earbuds in his ears. His foot was tapping on the ground, presumably to whatever song he was listening to. His hair matched his brother’s, being a platinum-blonde, and sat messily atop his head. He was wearing jeans and a light blue hoodie. Natalya had seen him before, although never formally meeting him. Her brother, Russia, had been taking care of him for a while, but it was obvious that he no longer was.

She didn’t make any moves to speak with him—he seemed happy enough to remain to himself and she really didn’t want to talk to him anyway—and instead looked back toward Matthias, who had taken a few steps closer to her.

“You’re gonna be spending two days at each of our places, starting with mine! We’ll show you around to everything that makes each of us the awesome countries we are! It sounds super fun, right?” The Dane raised his eyebrows, and hopped up an down like an excited child.

“Super,” Natalya said and rolled her eyes, turning toward Irunya. “And where will you be during all of this… fun?” she asked her sister. Irunya chuckled. “I’ll be staying with you guys here in Denmark for the first few days to make sure you get settled in, but then I’ve got to head to Germany and visit Ludwig for some business,” the Ukrainian answered. Natalya sighed and faced forward again, her violet gaze falling to the ground. “Great,” she muttered.

“Let’s go to the car. It’s too cold out here,” Lukas chimed in, wrapping his arms around himself.

“Alright, alright, everyone follow me!” Matthias exclaimed, and began racing toward the car, weaving through people like a crazed maniac. Everyone simply walked behind the energetic Dane at a normal pace, Natalya begrudgingly following suit. 

She took a few steps forward and caught up with Lukas, looking at the Norwegian who was still shivering, and then ahead at Matthias who was ten seconds away from getting lost in the crowd.

“Is he always like this?” she asked Lukas, who turned to her and nodded. “If you mean ‘is he always an idiot’, then the answer would be yes.”

Natalya nodded as well. “Exciting,” she said sarcastically, grumbling a bit as she lost sight of Matthias and silently hoped that someone else knew where they were going. She looked behind her at Emil, who still seemed to be oblivious to his surroundings, breaking his gaze for only a second as he ran into someone. 

“So what’s your brother’s deal?” she asked, raising a brow at Lukas. The Norwegian looked at the Icelandic male for a moment, and then sighed. “He doesn’t like people. Or anything really.”

“I see,” Natalya stated simply. She gave Emil one last glance before looking around. “We better not be lost,” she commented, the airport parking lot seeming to go on forever; all the cars looked the same, and there were too many people to see any clues of where they were at.

“We’re not, the car’s just there,” Lukas reassured, pointing to a red mini-van that had a familiar Dane standing on top of it. “Matthias, you idiot, get off of there. That’s a rental,” the Norwegian said, walking toward the vehicle. 

“Come on, Norge! I was just trying to help you guys find me! And it worked, didn’t it?” Matthias proudly retorted.

“If you dent it, I’m not paying for it,” Lukas said, crossing his arms.

“Fine, fine, I’ll get down,” the Danish man said, defeated. He jumped down, shakily landing on his feet and using the car as support. “You all set your bags down and I’ll load ‘em in,” he instructed. 

Natalya set her suitcase by the trunk and waited for Irunya to do so as well before climbing into the back seat of the mini-van, next to the window. Beside her sat Emil, and beside him Lukas. The Belarusian kept her eyes on the window, looking at nothing in particular. She felt the car bounce as Matthias closed the trunk.

“And we’re off!” He exclaimed. Natalya felt as the car began to move forward, and watched as her surroundings went by. 

* * *

The group reached Matthias’ large house, passing by many trees as they went up his long driveway. The house itself was a large brick building that reminded Natalya of a castle. The front was decorated with tall cone-shaped bushes; smaller bushes lining the house and driveway. 

Matthias parked the car and looked behind him at Natalya and the rest of the passengers. “Here we are, whatcha guys think?”

“It’s very typical of you,” Lukas commented. “Huge and overdone.”

“Aw, come on Norge, you know you love it! Natalya, just wait till you see the inside!” 

Natalya gave him a look of disinterest, which he seemed to not notice and stepped out. Natalya did the same, following after everyone else, the only one behind her being Emil, which came as no surprise.

Lukas went to the trunk and grabbed out Natalya’s bag, watching in mild amusement as Matthias struggled to get Irunya’s out, before handing Natalya her suitcase. “The inside is worse,” he told her, to which she emotionlessly responded, “I assumed so.” 

She pulled the handle up and followed Matthias up to the large oak door, waiting for him to unlock it before stepping inside.


	2. Welcome to Matthias' House

Matthias pulled his keys out of his pocket, fumbling with the metal objects for a moment before finally locating the one he needed, and sticking it into the keyhole. His blue eyes lit up in triumph, and he turned the doorknob, swinging the door open with excitement. 

“Feast your eyes on the one, the only, hus af den fantastiske Matthias!” the Danish man exclaimed. Natalya had no clue what he said, but was ninety percent sure he was praising himself in some way. 

Her violet eyes examined her surroundings. Lukas was right, it definitely was worse on the inside. The walls were red, and were decorated with many photos and paintings, mostly being of Matthias or the Danish flag. There was a large grandfather clock that was positioned at the end of the hallway. To the side was a large staircase, with golden railings. The floor was white tile, however the stairs were white carpet, a detail that bugged Natalya to the fullest; it was all so unnecessary. She could only imagine what the upstairs was like.

“So, what do you girls think?” Matthias asked energetically, bouncing up and down.

Natalya gave him a stern glance, before turning to Irunya, who seemed to be searching for something nice to say.

“It’s uhm… it’s unique! Very you!” Irunya exclaimed, afterward giving Matthias an unsure smile that almost made Natalya laugh—almost. 

“I know right? I knew you’d all love it, I designed it myself after all!” the Dane exclaimed, oblivious to the fact no one expressed that they actually liked the house. “Follow me, I’ll show you two to your rooms upstairs! Sadly, they aren’t as cool as the rest of the house.”

Irunya chuckled, “I think I can live with that.”

Natalya watched as the two began ascending up the staircase, and she trudged behind, having a bit of difficulty getting her suitcase up each step, but managing to do so nonetheless. 

Matthias guided them to two rooms that were right next to each other on the right side of the hallway. “This one’s yours, Irunya,” he said, opening the door to the first one. “And this one is for you, Nattie. Can I call you that?” he asked, moving to open the door to Natalya’s room.

Natalya irritatedly met his blue gaze. “Call me that again, and I break your arm.”

Matthias took a step back. “Alright, geez. I’ll let you two settle in.” And with that, the Dane walked back down the stairs, presumably to converse with the other Nordics. 

Natalya sighed, stepping into the room that she luckily would only have to stay in for two days. The room was rather plain, with white walls and white carpet. To the left was a brown dresser with a blue vase on top, however the vase was vacant of any flowers. The queen-sized bed had a plain red comforter and white pillows, and next to the bed was a brown night stand with a gold lamp on top. Next to the lamp was a picture of Matthias and some other man. Natalya walked over to it curiously, picking up the small photograph and examining it for a moment. She knew she recognized him, but she couldn’t put her finger on who the tall, blonde, green-eyed man was. 

The blonde set the photograph back down and flopped onto the bed, a sigh escaping her lips. She looked down at her watch, and noticed it was already six p.m. She sighed again.

Natalya hadn’t quite realised how tired she was until now. She closed her eyes for what she thought would only be a moment, and soon fell asleep.

* * *

“Ten minutes ‘til dinner!” called a loud voice, effectively snapping Natalya awake. She shot upward, her eyes opening as she looked around. Sighing, she remembered where she was, and stood up, making sure she didn’t look terrible before heading out of her room. 

She got lost for only a moment as she went down the large staircase and toward the kitchen, the noise from the others talking being enough to help her find her way. 

The Belarusian walked in, only to find everyone talking; Tino cooking while Matthias whined about wanting to help; Lukas and Irunya setting the table; Berwald searching for something in the fridge; Emil sitting on the counter and looking at the floor. It was astonishing to Natalya that the Icelander didn’t have his phone.

She decided that he was the only one not talking to others or being busy with a task, so she would introduce herself to him. Plus he didn’t have his phone to act as a distraction. She wasn’t entirely sure why she felt compelled to speak with him‒‒maybe Irunya was rubbing off on her.

Natalya walked up to him, staring at him with her cold violet eyes and poking his shoulder. He looked up at her, an equally as cold expression on his face. “What do you want?” he asked.

“I don’t know. To talk or something,” the Belarusian responded. She examined him curiously, although you would never have been able to tell that she was.

“There are plenty of other people to talk to, so don’t bug me. I don’t want to talk to _you,_ ” Emil said, his emphasis on ‘you’ making Natalya raise an eyebrow. 

“And what is _that_ supposed to mean?”

Emil hopped off of the counter and stood in front of the short woman, staring down at her. “It means that I know who you are, and about your weird obsession with Ivan.”

“Listen, dickweed, that was a year and a half ago. We all go through weird phases, emo-boy,” Natalya retorted, crossing her arms.

“I’m not emo!” Emil exclaimed, his eyes lighting up angrily as he shoved Natalya forward. 

Natalya gasped, purposely doing so overdramatically, and earning the attention from everyone else in the room. She watched as Lukas walked in front of her, and looked at Emil. “What are you doing. She’s a guest, Emil, you can’t just shove her.”

“I didn’t ‘just shove her’, she insulted me! Stop talking to me like I’m a child; for fuck’s sake you’re not my parent,” Emil growled angrily.

“No, I’m your older brother. And you should respect me,” Lukas replied, with a calmness that came as a surprise to Natalya; although Lukas really didn’t seem like the kind to shout. “Why don’t you go to your room and cool off,” the Norwegian suggested. 

Emil clenched his teeth. “Seriously? You’re sending me to my room? Fine, I’ll go! But not because you told me to, but because I’m sick of dealing with all of you idiots!” The Icelandic male stormed off, muttering, “I’m not a child,” under his breath. 

If Natalya was a more expressive woman, she would have certainly had a smug expression on her face.

The room fell silent, and everyone looked at each other awkwardly. But quickly, like flicking a switch, everything went back to the way it was. To Natalya’s surprise, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned around to see who it belonged to. Lukas stood behind her, looking at her with slight sympathy. “Don’t worry about him, he gets moody sometimes,” he said.

“I can tell,” Natalya said in return, going to the counter and sitting in the same position Emil was in previously. She looked down and noticed she had yet to take off her jacket, and unzipped it, before taking it off and tying it around her waist. 

  
  


The dinner was served, and Natalya was given a portion that could only be three times her size. Tino had said that the meal was Aebleflæsk, a traditional Danish meal that was requested by Matthias (and was likely the reason Matthias wanted to help cook so badly). Natalya really didn’t know what was in the meal, and couldn’t really tell by looking at it, however it smelled good so she figured it would taste good as well. 

Natalya grabbed a bite, examining it before placing it in her mouth. As expected, it was delicious, although Natalya would never say such a fact out loud. They were all eating the food, so they should know that it’s delicious, what need did she have to say it? 

“This is delicious!” exclaimed Irunya, of course being the person to go against Natalya’s philosophy. 

“Thank you!” responded Tino and Matthias together, causing the table to erupt with laughter, while Natalya simply continued to eat in silence. Her mind wandered toward Emil, and how angry he must be up in his room, probably listening to My Chemical Romance. 

“What do you think, Natalya?”

The Belarusian looked up like a deer in headlights, Tino’s voice snapping her out of her thoughts. “What?” she asked as she looked at the expectant faces of everyone around her.

“I was just asking what you thought of the meal,” the Finnish man explained. 

“Oh. It’s good,” Natalya simply said, a bit annoyed at having to share information she deemed unnecessary. 

“I’m glad you like it! Matthias has many interesting recipes,” Tino said with a smile, and Matthias smiled as well. “Yes I do! And they’re all amazing!” the Dane exclaimed. 

“Yeah,” Natalya said, and went back to her meal.

  
  


After dinner was over, the group ended up watching the movie ‘Men and Chicken’, a Danish comedy that Natalya really didn’t find all that enjoyable, but one that everyone else seemed to enjoy. When the movie ended, Natalya silently made her way back upstairs to her room, still feeling rather full from the large dinner. As she walked down the hallway, she bumped shoulders with Emil, who stopped and glared at her for a moment before continuing on his way. 

Natalya shrugged and opened the door to her room, stepping inside. She pulled her suitcase up on her bed, unzipping it and grabbing out her purple, silk pajamas. She quickly changed and then grabbed out her toiletries, going to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

Natalya sighed as she looked in the mirror at her tired face. Today was exhausting enough, and she still had a whole week ahead of her. The Belarusian turned on the faucet and splashed some water on her face, before wetting her toothbrush and putting a line of toothpaste on it. 

Natalya finished brushing her teeth and turned off the faucet, setting her toothbrush down on the counter. She made her way back to her room and flopped onto her bed, similar to how she had done so earlier. “What a day,” she muttered to herself.

The Belarusian slowly closed her eyes, not even bothering to get under the covers before drifting off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation notes:  
> “...house of the amazing Matthias!”


	3. The Snowball Fight

The cold wind blew through Natalya’s hair, causing her to shiver as she opened her violet eyes. Her surroundings were dark, leading her to believe it was the middle of the night. The ground was littered with what had to be at least three feet of snow. The trees rustled as another gust of wind blew through. Natalya stood to her feet.

She hadn’t the faintest clue how she had gotten here, or even why she was here. But a force lulled her to move forward. She took a step, hugging her arms to her chest, her whole body shivering. There were voices in the distance, that sounded oddly familiar, although she couldn’t make out what they were saying. The voices got louder with each step; she knew she was going the right way. 

Walking through trees, she reached a clearing. In front of her, she saw a figure, but in the darkness she couldn’t make out who or what it was. That’s when she realised the voices she was hearing weren’t just voices—whatever that was in front of her was screaming. 

* * *

Natalya’s body shot up, her now messy hair scattering around her shoulders. Her chest heaved up and down with each of her deep breathes, her blurry vision scanning the room for anything resembling the scene that was displayed to her in her dreams. But she found nothing of the sort. 

Letting out a relieved sigh, she fell back down, the plush pillow forming around her face. The blonde rolled over, glancing at the clock that sat on the bedside table. It was eight a.m. Her violet eyes trailed beside the clock, and the golden lamp, back over to the picture of Matthias and the unknown man. She put the picture face down, rolling over to the other side, and managing to roll off of the bed. “Wah!” 

Natalya spat some of her hair out of her mouth. “Дзярмо,” she muttered, brushing her hair out of her face. She gripped the bedpost and stood up, rubbing the back of her head, which was now bruised from her small tumble. 

The door clicked, and Natalya’s eyes snapped toward it, watching as her sister stepped into the room with a worried expression on her face. 

“Are you alright? I heard a loud noise,” the Ukrainian said. 

“Yes, I’m fine,” Natalya responded, waving her sister off. 

“Oh, alright then! Tino’s almost finished making breakfast by the way,” Irunya informed, Natalya nodding in response. The two stood there in silence for a moment, Natalya glaring at her sister as she often did.

“Let me leave you be. Hurry downstairs, though! Wouldn't want your breakfast to get cold.”

Natalya sat back down on her bed, glancing at her suitcase which she had yet to unpack. “I'll keep that in mind,” the Belarusian said, and listened as Irunya left, gently shutting the door behind her. 

‘I guess I'll unpack after breakfast…’ Natalya thought. She was a bit reluctant—not really wanting to have to unpack her whole suitcase for only spending two days here—but if she didn't unpack she would probably mess up everything in her suitcase from rummaging around in it, and she would have to pack everything back in either way. 

She decided she should go downstairs and get that breakfast Irunya was talking about. 

Her ankle popped a couple times as she descended the staircase, likely a result of her previous tumble, and not something she was too fond of. It was like a bell on a collar, it signaled that she was coming. 

“There she is! Hyvää huomenta, Natalya!” exclaimed a voice, which (Although it took her a minute) Natalya identified as Tino's. She stepped into the kitchen, looking around at everyone, before giving Tino a blank glare. 

“That means good morning,” the Fin said nervously, a noticeably awkward chuckle following. Natalya continued to silently glare at him for a few seconds before replying, “Morning.” She looked away, Tino's muscles relaxing.

Natalya went and sat down at the table. Everyone was talking the way they did at dinner, except for Emil who was stabbing his food with his fork. 

The Belarusian looked down at her plate, seeing what she thought to be simple chocolate chip pancakes. “I decided to just go with pancakes, I figured you two wouldn't want too much of a culture shock this early,” Tino said, confirming Natalya’s thoughts. 

She took a bite, nodding in satisfaction. It was quite obvious that Tino was a good cook, as evidence by this meal and dinner last night.

* * *

After breakfast, Natalya had been instructed by Matthias to get ready and meet him outside for what he called “the most awesome snowball fight you'll ever have.” Natalya wasn't the biggest fan of games like that, but a part of her did look forward to this game—it was an excuse to pelt people in the face with snow.

She laced up her brown boots and put on her purple coat, black gloves, and hat. The blonde looked at herself in the mirror, grumbling a bit at how messy her hair looked (despite having combed it for twenty minutes prior to getting dressed), and went downstairs to join the group which had been waiting for her. She was surprised to see Emil among them, but figured that his reason for playing was probably similar to her own.

Matthias led them all out into the large backyard, which was covered with at least six inches of snow. “Alright!” the Dane began. “Here’s the rules! We’re going to divide into two teams. On the count of three, you’re gonna run and find a hiding place! Try and make as many snowballs as you can. Then, when I shout ‘FIRE!’ you’re free to launch your icy balls of destruction at the opposing team. Since we have an odd number of people, I’m going to be reffing.”

Everyone seemed to nod at the Dane. Natalya glanced around, noticing the different levels of enthusiasm that were displayed amongst the group. 

Lukas seemed like he couldn’t care less about the game, his arms crossed and an emotionless expression on his face. 

In contrast, Tino seemed ecstatic to get playing, with a large grin on his face as he bounced on his feet in anticipation. 

Irunya was acting in a similar manner, her hands in fists and shaking up and down, and a bright, toothy smile spread across her face.

Emil seemed to be ignoring the enthusiasm from the two and was looking at the ground. His hands were stuffed into his pockets and earmuffs covered his ears, but it was obvious that they weren’t drowning out everyone’s words like Natalya assumed Emil had hoped they would. 

Berwald seemed to be matching Lukas with a rather blank expression of indifference, not excited to play but not dreading it either, however a small hint hidden in his eyes made Natalya think that he secretly was excited to play.

“So here are the teams!” Matthias exclaimed, examining the group intently. “Team one is Ber, Irunya, and Norge! Which means team two is Icy, Nat, and Tino.” 

Natalya grumbled at the nickname, but walked over to her teammates. She looked at Emil, his frown instantly turning more sour as he looked at her. 

“Seriously, I have to be on a team with her?” the Icelandic said, crossing his arms. He groaned under his breath, his teeth gritted. 

“Got a problem?” Natalya asked, matching his position and giving him a harsh glare. His frown noticeably faltered, and he looked away. 

Matthias came up behind him, wrapping his arm around Emil’s shoulders, giving a toothy grin to the younger male. “Come on Icy! Just ‘cause you like her doesn’t mean you have to be so scared to play on her team.” 

Emil shoved the Dane away from him, his face lit up like a fire engine. “I do not like her! She’s… She’s… She’s insane!” he retorted, his brows furrowed in anger. His eyes falling to the ground, he muttered, “Let’s just play this stupid game already.”

“Alright! And on that note, let’s get started! Remember, on the count of three, go find a hiding spot and try to make as many snowballs as you can. Only start throwing when you hear ‘fire’!” Matthias exclaimed. 

Natalya would be lying if she said she hadn’t found the previous conversation amusing. She didn’t think much more of it, and prepared to go run and hide. She was playing against her sister after all, and if she knew anything about her sister, it was that she could be very competitive when she wanted to. And now was definitely one of the times she wanted to, Natalya could tell just by looking at her. 

“One…” Matthias said. Natalya readied herself, looking at Tino, then Emil, and then the woods that surrounded the yard. She figured that would be the best place for her to hide.    
  


“Two…” 

Natalya noticed that Emil seemed to have the same idea as her, his gaze locked onto one of the trees. She silently prayed that the other team hadn’t caught on to their plan. 

“Three!”

The Belarusian quickly dashed off into the woods, hiding behind a large oak tree. She looked down to the snow at her feet, and figured she needed to get ammo before Matthias decided to let everyone get trigger-happy. 

She bent down, grabbing handfuls of snow and packing them into tennis ball sized balls. She managed to make about a dozen, before the shout of “FIRE!” echoed throughout the whole forest.

She cautiously peered around the tree, watching as Irunya fired dangerously close to her hiding space, presumably at Emil. The Belarusian’s eyes then widened as Tino came out of nowhere and started nailing all three of their opponents, which the accuracy of a sniper. 

She took a deep breath and readied a snowball of her own, her eyes narrowing on Berwald. He was the easiest target, being that he was the tallest and was hidden poorly behind a few bushes. She aimed, and then launched her arm  foreward forward , the snowball flying through the air and hitting the Swede n in the back of the head.  He quickly turned around, Natalya immediately taking cover. 

Luckily he didn’t see her, and went back to creating ammo, likely for Irunya to use, since he didn’t seem to be firing much himself. 

Natalya scooped up all of her snowballs in her arms and dashed off further into the forest. However, the small woman quickly crashed into something. 

Her snowballs fell out of her arms, breaking and joining the rest of the snow on the ground. She herself managed to stay standing. 

She opened her eyes to see Emil, looking dazed and rubbing his head. Crossing her arms at the Icelander, she asked, “Were you following me?”, her voice as emotionless as her face. 

Emil shook his head and came to his senses, realising the situation and quickly standing up, quite obviously flustered. He brushed the snow off of his bum and said, “No. Why the hell would I be following  _ you _ ?”

“Because you’re obviously a weirdo,” Natalya responded with a shrug. 

“I’m not!  _ Uhg,  _ why did that stupid Dane have to agree to let you stay with us,” Emil groaned. 

“Stop whining. It’s not like I wanted to be here in the first place.”

The male huffed, “Let’s get back to this dumb game before I vomit from having to talk to you.”

“Real mature,” Natalya muttered, rolling her eyes. She looked around, but only saw trees. The rapidly falling snow had already covered their footprints in just the few minutes they were talking to one another. She sighed. 

“We’re lost.”


	4. Lost

Emil’s face contorted in disbelief as he looked at the endless forest around them. He shivered, quickly moving his arms to hug himself; the temperature seemed to drop just as quickly as the Icelandic’s hope of survival.

“Great. We’re never getting out of this forest. I knew playing this stupid game was a terrible idea,” he grumbled. 

Natalya huffed loudly. “Will you stop whining? We need to find our way back to the house before it gets dark.”

She began searching around at the trees for any sort of landmark that would be recognisable as along the path back to the house. Sadly, there only seemed to be endless snow and trees. Why, oh  _ why  _ did they have to play near the woods?

“Don’t be dumb, it’s like noon. We still have four hours until it even starts to get dark,” Emil’s voice suddenly chimed in, causing Natalya to whip around and glare at him.

“I can’t believe you, oh ye of ‘we’re never getting out of here.’ I’d think you’d at least understand that we don’t know how far away we are, or have any clue how to get out of here, so we have  _ no idea _ how long it’ll take us to escape.”

She took a deep breath, doing her best to keep calm, the snow helping as it cooled her slowly heating features.

“But, by all means, if you’d like to get eaten by wolves, go ahead. I’m going to get the hell out of here.”

She looked around at all the trees once more, soon deciding to just pick a direction, and then walked off. Unsurprisingly, she heard rapid footsteps crunching in the snow behind her.

“Wait!” Emil called toward her.

“So I see you do have a brain,” Natalya stated, not stopping on bit. “Surprising, honestly.” She eyed him as he caught up with her, breathing like he had been holding his breath for the past month.

“Hey!” Emil whined. Natalya didn't respond, and kept going forward.

After about twenty minutes of what seemed like endless walking, Natalya stopped. She looked all around her.

“I think we should split up,” she suggested, “Only one of us  _ needs  _ to get back. If one of us makes it, we can tell the others and come get the other person. Plus, we could cover more ground.”

Emil looked at her, likely in confusion. “What if one of us just gets  _ more _ lost?” he asked. 

“Are you scared?” Natalya questioned, raising an eyebrow in an almost teasing fashion.

“No! I just-!”

“With everyone else you'll almost definitely be found. So don't be such a wimp.” 

She glanced around at the woods once more, picking her and Emil's paths.

“You go that way, I'll go this way,” she instructed, pointing in each respective direction , sending Emil toward a small rock formation. As for herself, she picked the beginning of what could, quite possibly, be the beginning of a clearing .  .

Emil huffed, but soon trudged off in his chosen direction. “If I die, it's your fault!”

Natalya rolled her eyes at his parting comment, and continued her endless journey to try and escape this maze they called a forest.  Her eyes darted every which way, her feet slowly picking up pace as she moved past a seemingly endless grove of trees. Soon she was sprinting, the loud crunch of the snow under her feet becoming like white noise to her reddening ears.

_ “Come on, come on, be a clearing, be a-” _

Her thoughts were interrupted by the backside of a large house that pricked her view. Determination filling her, she picked up her pace once more. The building rapidly flew back into view. Soon Natalya reached the back door.

Stopping herself just inches short of hitting it, and rapped her fist as quickly as she could on the door. The adrenaline from running had filled her to the brim, however the cold was catching up with her as well, and she wanted nothing more than to get inside. 

Relief quickly washed over her. A warm gush from inside the house made her feel comforted just by its soft touch on her pale and red skin, the familiar face that appeared in the doorway soon adding to this effect. The larger woman engulfed Natalya in an overwhelming embrace.

“Natalya! I was worried sick!” Irunya exclaimed, “I just about had a panic attack!”

Where she would have usually pushed her older sister away, Natalya simply let the woman hug her, for no other reason than that she was incredibly warm compared to Natalya’s chilled body.

“Where’s Emil?”

Natalya blinked at Irunya’s question, shivering slightly when the other released her. 

“He’s still in there, somewhere. We split up,” she responded blankly.

“Oh dear. Oh  _ dear! _ We’ve got to go find him!”

In the blink of an eye, Irunya had dragged Natalya inside, toward the other four occupants of the home who were seated around the living room fireplace.

“Natalya!” the group exclaimed in unison, jumping up from their seats and circling around her. 

“Are you okay? Where’s Emil? How’d you all get lost?” Tino asked, his long string of questions quick and shaky. Natalya opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by Irunya.

“She said Emil’s still somewhere in the forest!”

A loud gasp was heard.

“Still in there? Well… God we need to go and find him!” Matthias heroically exclaimed, a look of determination on his features.

“Let’s go!” Tino chimed, a similar look appearing on his face. The other three nodded, and they all rushed out of the door, Natalya following close behind.

* * *

_ “Come on Nattie! Play with us!” A young girl happily called to a blonde who was sat on top of a small mound of snow, reading a book. _

_ “No,” the blonde girl responded, “and stop calling me Nattie.” _

_ “Come on! It’s no fun with only three people!” _

_ “Give up, Eli. She’s not gonna play, she’s too weird,” a silver-haired boy chimed in, “and so unawesome! C’mon, let’s play somewhere else.” _

_ The two children walked away, leaving the blonde child to sit alone. “Idiots,” she huffed to herself, tears forming in her eyes that she tried to wipe away.  _

_ “Are you okay?” _

_ Natalya looked up to see a blonde boy much taller than herself, with shimmering green eyes. _

_ “I’m fine…” she muttered softly, continuing to wipe her teary eyes. _

_ “Don’t let that idiot Gilbert get you. For being the Teutonic Knights, he’s not very knightly.” The boy smiled slightly. “What are you reading?” _

_ “A book my big sister gave to me. It’s about this girl who can speak to the dead. But everyone thinks she’s crazy.” _

_ The boy sat down next to her, looking at the page.  _

_ “May I read with you?” _

_ Natalya nodded softly, moving the book so that he could see a bit better. _

_ “Thank you,” he said kindly. _


End file.
